SB 48: Building Energy Savings Act.

Existing law requires each utility to maintain records of the energy usage data of all buildings to which they provide service for at least the most recent 12 complete calendar months, and to deliver or otherwise provide that aggregated energy usage data for each covered building, as defined, to the owner, as specified. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to adopt regulations providing for the delivery to the Energy Commission and public disclosure of benchmarking of energy use for covered buildings, and specifies that this requirement does not require the owner of a building with 16 or fewer residential utility accounts to collect or deliver energy usage information to the Energy Commission.

This bill would additionally specify that the requirement does not require the owner of a building with less than 50,000 square feet of gross floor space to collect or deliver energy usage information to the Energy Commission.

Existing law requires the Energy Commission to prescribe, by regulation, lighting, insulation, climate control system, and other building design and construction standards, and energy and water conservation design standards, for new residential and new nonresidential buildings to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy, as specified.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, Public Utilities Commission, and Department of Housing and Community Development, on or before July 1, 2026, to develop a strategy for using the energy usage data described above to track and manage the energy usage and emissions of greenhouse gases of covered buildings in order to achieve the states goals, targets, and standards related to energy usage and emissions of greenhouse gases of covered buildings, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission to submit the strategy and recommendations for further legislative action that would help achieve certain objectives to the Legislature on or before August 1, 2026.